Well, I
will admit that “The Last High School Musical” may be a bit over
dramatic a title for this blog, but it definitely encapsulates how I
feel. From the moment we begin to read on Facebook about the fall
musical at Freeport High School, Gerald and I began to feel nostalgic
and sad and proud and excited all mixed together. I am usually the
one most interested in theater, but Gerald beat me in saying we must
go up to see Cecelie in this show. She is our youngest grandchild
and the third of the Eiler kids, who we have seen perform so many
times in plays, musicals, and shows of all sorts. Now that Cecelie
is a senior, we are facing the fact that that part of our lives is
over; and it is a bit overwhelming emotionally. So we were sadly
excited but happily anticipating seeing her as Aquata, one of the
mersisters (princesses) in The Little Mermaid.
As it
turned out, this musical production was pretty dramatic and not just
for us. On Monday night at rehearsal, Brynn Schiffman, who played the
lead mermaid Ariel, had a serious accident on stage and ended up with
a severe knee injury. Suddenly everything was up in the air. What to
do? Would they cancel the show with tickets already sold? Jeannie
texted me, and I felt sick at heart for what this young woman had
happen to her just two nights before all her six weeks of hard work
were supposed to be rewarded and enjoyed by the community. I felt
enormous sympathy for what director Tim Connors must be going
through. And then complete disbelief when Jeannie said maybe Cecelie
would be doing the Thursday night show so that Brynn could heal for
the later performances. What? Two days to learn an entirely new
part: songs, dances, lines?
But that
is what happened. The other five mersisters would absorb Cecelie's
lines, and she would play Ariel for the Thursday night performance,
so Brynn could heal enough to get doctor's permission to perform
Friday and Saturday, which she did beautifully. Cecelie was excused
from her Tuesday classes and half of Wednesday's, and Connors and the
vocal director and the choreographer and others pitched in to give
her six weeks of rehearsals in two days. The show must go on, and it
did! (This sort of group endeavor and determination and insistence
on “making it work” is one of the many values of theater for high
school students.)
It
helped that in part of the story, Ariel could not talk because of the
evil sister's curse. During that time when Ariel's song was just
supposed to be her thoughts, Brynn actually sang it off stage and
that was one less song Cecelie had to learn. But Cecelie was superb,
and there was not a hitch that I could tell.
It was
not until we were in the back-stage hallway with a large part of the
audience crowding in to congratulate the cast that I heard Cecelie
coughing and coughing while she held a bag of cough drops as the
clutched her bouquets in the other arm. Somehow on stage, she had
carried on, and I did not detect this awful cold. Her mother had had
her to the doctor, who said it was just one of the coughs going
around town that would last four weeks. She was sent home to treat
herself with over-the-counter meds. I imagine the doctor told her to
get a lot of rest. Ha.
The next
night we got to hear Brynn's beautiful voice, and she somehow danced
well with her knee brace despite what I imagine was considerable
pain. Cecelie was also terrific as Aquata, and we were thrilled to
see her in both her roles. I must say she made a beautiful mermaid
both nights. I'd have liked to stay for the Saturday matinee and
night performance, but we needed to get home, and we wanted to stop
at my brother's home on the way back to Southern Illinois.
Jeannie
was swamped with Veterans Day observances at both her elementary
schools, where she needed to hang art work for the crowds coming to
those two programs. On Thursday, she went from hanging art for the
public to see and on to a baby shower in a nearby town and then made
it to the Thursday night performance.
She
invited us to hang out with her kindergarten students Friday morning,
but Gerald planned to shop at a big rural store there, and I like to
sleep and lounge and read in the mornings. Because Chicago schools
were closed on Veterans Day, Elijah had driven in late Thursday
night, so we were able to see him and Rick at Culvers for lunch
across the street from our motel.
Jeannie
explained the Friday afternoon programs were so close together in
time and the two schools so far apart that we could only go to one.
Fortunately we got there early as cars lined the streets, and Gerald
had to find a place less obvious to park. The little gym required
lots of walking down halls and stairways, and we were among the last
to find a seat. Parents and grandparents and veterans kept coming
and stood lining the walls. We have observed how great Freeport
people support their students. The Jeannette Lloyd Theatre at the
high school is usually packed, and these veteran programs were also.
Jeannie couldn't even get in after rushing from the other school, but
we met up afterwards.
By this
time, we realized that Jeannie too had that awful cough making her
even more exhausted as she rushed from one duty to the next. And the
almost funny part (because it is so typical in the life of parents of
high schoolers) is that Cecelie had reminded at the last minute that
Jeannie had said if no one else had the cast party, they could have
it at their house after the final Saturday show. So Rick had
shampooed the carpets, and I imagine Jeannie spent Saturday shopping
and cooking for the party.
The
Little Mermaid is the second Disney classic in a row that
director Tim Connors choose to produce. Little girls like to come to
the shows dressed in their princess outfits. This year the mermaids
wore long wigs with curls down to their waists, and they were
lovely. The large all-school cast gives so many students
theatrical experience and life-long memories. The pit orchestra is
always excellent, and colorful costumes and sophisticated props are
always visually delightful.
Last
fall we attended Beauty and the Beast when Cecelie had the
lead and we saw our blonde granddaughter become a brunette to be
Belle, and she kept that hair color through the school year and
summer. Right before we left to go upstate, I had some odd shoulder
pains, but very few. I saw my doctor, and I was determined to use
the tickets we'd ordered. Every thing went fine. Gerald went home
Saturday morning, but I stayed through all the performances and rode
home with Cecelie's big sister Leslie and and husband Mike. In fact,
they came over to our hotel the last night to avoid sleep deprivation
by all the noise at the Eiler household where last year's cast party
lasted till 3 a.m. before the last stragglers left. That night was
when I had longer and harder shoulder pain, and I kept thinking I
really did not want to ruin Mike and Leslie's plan for a good night's
sleep by asking them to take me to the emergency room. So I went
back to sleep. I went to the heart doctor when I got back home, and
two stints solved that problem.
This
year Mike was on duty with the police force, so Leslie was thinking
she would go upstate with us. She was more than a little perturbed
when she realized that the Christmas show tour she auditioned for
started rehearsals the same weekend as Cecelie's show. She will be
singing on this tour in Georgia and Minnesota and I do not know where
else, but unfortunately not in Southern Illinois. I will have to
enjoy her performances vicariously just knowing she is doing what she
loves to do and hearing about it later.. And while I grieve a bit
over The Last High School Musical, I will also enjoy the many
memories and know there will always be other events and highlights
that come with having nine grandchildren.
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